Airlines Allowing Free Flight Changes for Northeast Travel

July 27, 2017

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3 min read

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Several airlines (American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines) are offering travelers change fee waivers for travel throughout parts of the Northeast. With stormy weather expected, the waivers are for travel tomorrow or Saturday (AA is the only carrier offering the waiver into Saturday).

If you’re flying to/from the affected airports, you can utilize these change fee waivers to rebook yourself on a different date. Or, if you’re just connecting through the area, you can use these change fee waivers to reroute yourself through different airports or on different dates.

Here's a map of all of the airports included in at least one of the waivers below:

Remember, if you can’t delay your itinerary, airlines aren’t going to be responsible for paying for your meals or hotels in the case of weather-related delays/cancellations. But some top cards have flight delay/cancellation insurance that can reimburse you for weather issues, including the Citi Prestige ($500 per passenger for 3+ hour delay), the Chase Sapphire Reserve ($500 per ticket for 6+ hour or overnight delay) and Chase Sapphire Preferred ($500 per ticket for 12+ hour or overnight delay).

As of this writing, here are the available travel waivers for today:

American Airlines

Travel date: July 28-29
Airports affected: Akron (CAK), Allentown (ABE), Baltimore (BWI), Harrisburg (MDT), Hartford (BDL), Islip (ISP), New Haven (HVN), New York - Kennedy (JFK), New York - LaGuardia (LGA), Newark (EWR), Philadelphia (PHL), Pittsburgh (PIT), Salisbury (SBY), State College (SCE), Newburgh (SWF), Washington - Dulles (IAD), Washington - Reagan (DCA), White Plains (HPN), Wilkes-Barre (AVP), Williamsport (IPT)
Must have bought your ticket by July 26. Rebook travel anytime between July 26-31. You can’t change your origin or destination city. Must rebook in same cabin or pay the difference.

Delta

Travel date: July 28
Airports affected: Baltimore (BWI), New York - Kennedy (JFK), New York - LaGuardia (LGA), Newark (EWR), Newburgh (SWF), Philadelphia (PHL), Washington - Dulles (IAD), Washington - Raegan (DCA), White Plains (HPN)
Rebooked travel must begin no later than: July 31
When rescheduled travel occurs beyond July 31, the change fee will be waived. However, a difference in fare may apply. Final travel must be completed by end of ticket validity, one year from date of original issue.
If travel is not able to be rescheduled within these guidelines, customers may cancel their reservation and apply any unused value of the ticket toward the purchase of a new ticket for a period of one year from the original ticket issuance.

United

Travel dates: July 28
Airports affected: Baltimore (BWI), Newark (EWR), New York - Kennedy (JFK), New York - LaGuardia (LGA), Philadelphia (PHL), Washington - Dulles (IAD), Washington - Raegan (DCA), White Plains (HPN)
The change fee and any difference in fare will be waived for new United flights departing on or before July 31, as long as travel is rescheduled in the originally ticketed cabin (any fare class) and between the same cities as originally ticketed.

Frontier, JetBlue, Spirit and Virgin America haven't released waivers at the time of this posting.

Featured image by Getty Images/EyeEm

Editorial disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airline or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.